At The Freakshow
by livinglife
Summary: Freakshow said that the scepter had been in his family for generations. How was it created? This story is yet another one of my enemy histories, but this one follows a strange point of view...
1. At The Beginning

_**I wanted to get at least two chapters of this story out before Friday when the new episode Reality Trip comes out and punches holes in the plot but I'm very busy with all of the end of school projects I've been assigned. This story is a challenge from Evilevergreen called a Controlled History Challenge. I wrote most of the chapter before Reality Trip so in this story please just act like it never happened.**_

Freakshow glared contemptuously at the guards in front of his cell. He had been so close! Fame and fortune had been his while he had been ringmaster of Circus Gothica. With his scepter he had been able to control ghosts and force them to do his bidding. Somehow Danny Phantom had been able to resist his control more than any other ghost Freakshow had encountered.

He sighed and placed his head in his hands. The scepter had been in his family for countless generations and for some reason he had been the only one who had used it for personal gain. Then it had fallen off the bridge and shattered. No one else would be able to wield the scepter unless magic brought it back together.

"I wish that the scepter had somehow survived the crash." He mumbled out loud.

A chill went through the room as Desiree appeared and said, "So you have wished it, so it shall be!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Skulker's POV two weeks earlier.

Once again I had been sent back into the Ghost Zone by that insolent whelp. Why was I always trapped in this cursed dimension! The fact that I had a human device on my arm that forced me to do as the Halfa's friend dictated was even more humiliating.

I was floating silently plotting in my lair when suddenly a green mist announced the arrival of Desiree. "Can't you see that I'm plotting?" I screamed into the thickening smog. It did not stop, and I had a bad feeling that this wasn't Desiree after all.

"It has been wished, so it must exist." Her voice echoed around me through the smoke and I vainly tried to escape. Green filled my senses and then it finally cleared. I found myself floating in the human world.

Excitement filled my chest as I thought of my revenge on the ghost child. Suddenly loud noises struck my ear sensors and I looked up. To my surprise I saw a long train speed past and someone fell from its roof. I smiled at the thought of human torture and turned invisible.

Then I realized that the ghost child himself had launched off the train after a girl. I flew over underneath them and prepared myself to blast the halfa. Something red and glowing was in his hands and as I watched I became hypnotized by its strange light. I stared transfixed until I realized that it was still falling towards me after the ghost boy had left.

My hand shot out and I caught the scepter with the tips of my fingers and brought it close to my chest. Something about it made me feel very strange. I stared at it again and watched as the light pulsed to a steady rhythm.

'_Like a heartbeat' _I thought. It almost seemed to make me feel alive again. I floated down and sat on the ground. My thoughts of revenge seemed to have vanished and all I could think about was the scepter. What could have created such a powerful device?

Its light seemed to grow brighter and I felt my eyes close against the glow. Seconds later I forced them open. A hunter needs all of his senses to survive after all. Bright sunlight shone in my eyes and I stared around in shock at my surroundings and my grip tightened around the scepter.

The road was made of dirt and what smelled like manure. Small houses lined the road and I watched as people in rags walked back and forth. I floated forward expecting them to flee but none of them even noticed me. They continued talking in British accents and my sensors picked up on a conversation.

"Hello Miss Covington, what news do you have for me today?" I looked around for the speaker and found a short dirty looking human women talking to a taller prettier one who I assumed was Miss Covington. She was dressed in very fine clothing that showed that she was at least a little bit wealthier than those around her. Her black hair was tied up in a bun on top of her head.

Miss Covington glanced around to make sure that no one was there. I floated closer and wondered why I was suddenly so curious. She bent down and whispered in the other's ear but my sensors could still pick out the words.

"Well, that crazy alchemist Edgar Sinclair still is infatuated with me." The other smirked and leaned closer. "He's always rambling on about ghosts and how they could somehow be controlled." The shorter human laughed once and then continued to listen. "He told me that today is the day that he'll reach his goal and then he asked me to marry him."

At first the other women looked shocked and then she burst out laughing. "What did you tell the old crackpot dearie?" Miss Covington laughed as well.

"I smiled and told him that I would have to think about it first." She smiled very sweetly and then grimaced. "Imagine me, a lady of wealth and beauty, marrying a crazy man like Edgar!" The two separated laughing and I watched as Miss Covington walked off towards a very strange house.

My instincts told me that I should follow. She walked towards a small house with several animals running around out front and stopped. I floated closer and my nose sensors picked up traces of many chemicals.

"Edgar!" the lady called out. There was a small explosion inside the house and a tall thin man came out with soot all over his face. He pulled an equally sooty rag out of his pocket and vainly tried to rub the grime off of his face.

"Miss Covington!" he said in surprise. "I hadn't expected you here so soon." His eyes widened hopefully. "Have you made your decision yet?" Miss Covington smiled sweetly and somehow produced a handkerchief for him to wipe off his face with. He took it carefully and managed to wipe most of the soot from his face which turned out to be paler than a ghost's.

"I've told you before to call me Lydia, Edgar." She said carefully avoiding his question. Edgar looked apologetic and held out the now black handkerchief. Lydia's face filled with scorn and disgust but was quickly replaced with false kindness as she daintily took back the cloth. I watched as she smoothly dropped it behind her back and smoothed mud over it with her heel.

"Wouldn't you like to show me what you've been working on?" she said. Edgar's pale cheeks held a little bit of color as he blushed shyly. Miss Covington didn't wait for an answer and shoved past him into the shop.

"It's not quite finished!" He called after her before following. I floated through after them and looked around. Beakers full of powders and liquids lined tables and shelves and some of them even glowed strangely. In the center of the room stood a small table and on that a black staff laid.

A small black thing moved by the table and I gasped as two blue eyes opened and looked through me. I realized that it was a human child. It continued to stare at me and when I moved away it watched me silently. I shuddered and then watched as Lydia moved towards the child.

"Edgar, you shouldn't let this urchin run around your shop." She said with disgust filling her tones. The child finally stopped watching me and ran over to Edgar. Edgar bent down and the child whispered something in his ear. Of course with my high-tech ear sensors I picked up every word…

"Father, this lady scares me. Can't you have the big strong ghost over there beat her up?" The child looked at me again and I realized that for some reason he could see me even though every one else couldn't. Edgar looked around nervously and then whispered back to the child.

"Calm down Simon. If there is a ghost here then I should be able to see it just as much as you." Simon shook his head but didn't say anything else. Instead he simply walked over to me and stood next to me like I was his pet.

Edgar sighed and rubbed his nearly bald head. "Lydia, you know that he's my son and therefore has a right to run around my shop. Ever since, my wife died… well, I won't continue on that topic." Lydia watched unmoved as he wiped tears from his eyes.

"So are you ever going to show me what you were working on?" she said icily. Edgar smiled at her as he misinterpreted her tone. It reminded me a lot about how my prey always missed the fact that the Goth girl liked him. At the moment I couldn't remember her name.

Edgar walked over to another table and lifted up a red glass ball. I glanced sideways and realized that it was the same one that was on the staff that I was holding. Apparently Simon noticed it too because he stared at me with an awed look in his eyes.

"This orb will allow me to take control of any ghost I choose. I can use them for the good of mankind! Imagine Lydia, a world where ghosts can fly us where we want to go, save us from accidents, and even fight in the crusades!" Lydia looked unimpressed as Edgar walked over to the staff on the table and placed the orb on to it.

Red light burst from the orb and I heard Edgar laughing. "It's working!" he yelled through the blinding light. Finally the light stopped and I looked around at the room in shock.

All of the town was in chaos.


	2. Back And Forth

Simon grabbed onto my hand and I quickly yanked it away from him. It confused me how he could see me when no one else could, but that didn't mean I was about to let him treat me like his babysitter. He looked up at me with his eerily bright blue eyes.

Almost all of the room had been engulfed in green flame, and a swirling vortex had opened up in the middle of the floor. Lydia was clutching onto a cupboard handle and screaming loudly.

The table where the orb and staff had been was floating, and on it Edgar stood, staff in hand, and his eyes were bright red lights. His mouth opened and hundreds of voices pored out. The orb was glowing and pulsing like a heartbeat again.

"A DoOR to ThE oUTsiDe haS BEeN oPEneD." The voices said in unison. "BuT A saCRiFice IS nEEDeD." Edgar's eyes rolled and fell upon Lydia. "aH, A FemAlE! PeRfeCT!"

A scaly hand reached out and grabbed Lydia. She screamed even louder. "Edgar! Save me!" But Edgar was being overshadowed, that much was obvious to me, and it was a very strange overshadowing. It seemed like he was being overshadowed by thousands of ghosts at once.

The hand pulled her easily into the pit.

The vortex closed with a hideous screech. Simon was clutching my hand again. The table fell to the floor with a thump and Edgar collapsed onto it. His scepter rolled onto the floor but didn't break. Simon released me and ran over to his father.

Suddenly screams filled the room as hundreds of ghosts pored out of the floor and into town. None of them glanced at me as they flew past. Then human screams began as the ghosts were unleashed onto the world.

The scene faded into blackness and I realized that I was still holding the scepter. I opened my hand to release it but to my surprise it was stuck to my hand. What surprised me even more was that I didn't really care.

"Where am I?" I said as I looked around. Then I almost screamed as a voice answered me, seeming to come from nowhere.

"_You are in-between. Not in the present, and not in the past. The question 'what_ _could have created such a powerful device' has been answered. What is your next question?"_

"What are you?" I asked. There was a soft sound almost like laughter.

"_I am the Scepter that has been passed down through generations of Sinclairs, the one that you now have in your hand. I am here to answer any questions that you might have about my creation and life. Ask your next question"_

"Fine." I answered. "Why could that whelp see me when no one else could?" The soft almost laughing sound again.

"_I'm assuming you mean Simon" _The blackness faded and I was standing in the workshop again, only this time it wasn't on fire or covered in soot.

Edgar Sinclair was working on a potion and a young human child of about three or four was standing beside him. "This will bring back your mother Simon." He said in a shaky voice. He added in a whisper, "Or at least I hope it will"

Simon looked around the workshop with tears in his brown eyes. An alarm went off in my head. Weren't they blue earlier? Or should I say later, because I was now even more in the past.

Suddenly there was a large explosion, and the liquid that Edgar had been working on exploded and splashed into both Edgar's eyes and Simon's eyes. Most of it went into Simon's. They faded almost to white and then became blue

The room faded again and I expected to be back in the darkness, but instead I watched as the scene fast forwarded and then stopped. Edgar was leaning over what appeared to be a chalkboard, and then he turned and spoke to Simon.

"The explosion gave us the ability to see ghosts, but if were distracted it goes away." He seemed to fade into himself. "Ghosts are real. What if we could control them? Use them for good?"

Then I was back in the darkness.

"_Your question has been answered. What do you wish to know now?"_

Curiosity pressed at the back of my mind. "What happened to Lydia?" And then I was in the Ghost Zone of the past, at exactly the moment where Lydia was pulled through the vortex by the ghostly hand.

A large ugly demon smirked as it held Lydia. "Time for the sacrifice." He said in a gurgling evil voice. His face was like a snake's, and he had hundreds of sharp fangs.

He lifted his other hand and a single curved claw unsheathed itself from his fingers. He inserted it into Lydia's body and she instantly became limp. He withdrew it and to my surprise a ghost form of Lydia was on it.

He lifted her body and ate it in one bite. Then he glowed strangely and spun one hand in a circle. A portal to the human world appeared, and the ghosts screamed and flooded through it.

Lydia's ghost floated silently. She watched the ghosts flee the Ghost Zone and waited till they were all gone. The silence was eerie. Finally she floated through. I followed her and found myself in the basement of Edgar's house. Lydia flew up and phased through the ceiling and I followed.

We were back in Edgar's work shop. Simon was trying desperately to wake his father up, but nothing seemed to be working. Lydia silently floated over and put a green hand to Edgar's forehead. He sat up quickly and stared at her. "Lydia?"

She nodded, but said nothing. I wondered if she had become a mute. Then she pointed to the scepter on the floor and Edgar lifted it up. "What's going on?" he said. Again Lydia said nothing. She pointed outside and floated away. Edgar followed her, and I followed Edgar.

Ghosts were flying around everywhere and destroying buildings. I watched as Lydia placed her hands on Edgar's. She lifted them into the air. Edgar held up the scepter and yelled, "STOP!" The ghosts all stopped and stared at the scepter.

"Return to wherever you came from now!" The ghosts stared at him, and then finally left, all flooding back to where they had come from. Lydia stayed where she was, and so did I. Edgar turned to Lydia and said, "You're not susceptible to the scepter. Why?"

She put a hand over her mouth and shook her head to show that she couldn't talk. She floated back inside the shop and Edgar and I followed. Simon was staring at her. Lydia didn't seem to notice and floated over to the chalkboard thing and began writing.

"I am here to guide you and all of Sinclair's that come after you. Until the bloodline ends, I am trapped as a ghost." She wrote.

Then everything faded to black and the strange voice of the Scepter said, _"What is your next question?_"

Something had been bothering me since the beginning. "Why are you showing me this?"

All that answered was the soft laughter, only now it really was laughter, and I could hear the sound of evil in it, of alternate motives, and dark secrets.


End file.
